Video: Local Pianist Plays Salt Marsh’s Pop-Up Piano

When we told you about the Pop-Up Piano at Marine Park’s Salt Marsh Center – on Avenue U and East 33rd Street – we asked readers to send in videos of themselves playing at the piano. We weren’t sure what we were going to get. Would it be 5-year-olds playing Chopsticks? A lovely couple mashing the keys for some fun? Or would we get a virtuoso giving an impromptu performance?

Luckily for us, the first videos that came in were from the latter. Professional pianist Mikhail Pais hit up the hidden venue to play some Chopin and Tchaikovsky to an audience of birds and grass.

Pais is a classical pianist born in Odessa, Ukraine and raised in Sheepshead Bay. A graduate of LaGuardia Arts High School, and attendee of the Boston Conservatory, he currently studies at the Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music. As recently as June 26, Pais played the Davidzon Radio Theater Hall, performing pieces from Rachmaninoff, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Schubert and others. You can find more about Pais at his website.

Of course, you should also check out the videos above and below, to see his stunning performance at the Salt Marsh Center.

Oh, and this doesn’t mean the rest of you would-be pianists are off the hook. Don’t worry if you don’t stack up against Pais – we still want videos of your 5-year-old playing Chopsticks.